Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin says he now thinks his controversial remarks about “legitimate rape” may be working for him in the final days of the Missouri Senate campaign.

Akin says it has ‘stirred up a whole lot of very regular people who are not usually involved in politics as they are now.”

At his final Kansas City rally of the campaign, called ‘Show-Me Courage’, several speakers brought up the August 19 remark where Akin claimed women could biologically prevent becoming pregnant from “a legitimate rape”.

The controversy nearly collapsed his campaign in the days afterward.

The comment was made during a taping of a current affairs talk show with St. Louis reporter Charles Jaco. It comment came deep into an interview at a TV studio.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said someone stuck a microphone in to Akin’s mouth.

Perkins condemned the National GOP leaders who tried to force Akin from the race.

“I know what the establishment does to solid conservatives who will not sell their principles for a party. They will abandon them in a heartbeat.”

Politgico reports, a federal appeals court has overturned a judge’s ruling that the National Institute of Health’s funding could not be used for embryonic stem cell research, saying the plaintiffs weren’t likely to win the case.

Judge Royce Lamberth had previously put an injunction on the funds, saying they violated the 1996 Dickey-Wicker law that prohibits federal funds from destroying embryos for stem cell research.

In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court ruled that “the plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail because Dickey-Wicker is ambiguous and the NIH seems reasonably to have concluded that although Dickey-Wicker bars funding for the destructive act of deriving an ESC from an embryo, it does not prohibit funding a research project in which an ESC will be used.”

The ruling is a win for the Obama administration, which has expanded the funding for stem cell research.

“Responsible stem cell research has the potential to treat some of our most devastating diseases and conditions and offers hope to families across the country and around the world,” said White House spokesman Nick Papas. “Today’s ruling is a victory for our scientists and patients around the world who stand to benefit from the groundbreaking medical research they’re pursuing.”

MissouriCures, a group promoting stem cell research in Missouri also applauded the ruling.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for Missouri patients – present and future – as well as for our families and friends across the country,” said Dena Ladd, executive director of Missouri Cures. “It makes absolutely no sense to stop funding medical research that has the potential to save so many families from the pain and economic stress of injury and disease.”

The Family Research Council, however, blasted the ruling and said the court should have stuck to a straight interpretation of the law.

“It is disappointing that the appeals court has decided to allow federal taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research in violation of federal law,” David Prentice, a senior fellow at the council, said in a statement. “Federal taxpayer funds should go towards helping patients first, not unethical experiments. We believe that further court decisions will support congressional protections of young human life and divert federal funds toward lifesaving adult stem cells.”